I am looking for my family history Granmothers name was Alice Clark Johnson,Grandfather Billy Johnson LC.NM?

Question

My Grandfather was in world war 2 and worked for the City Of Las Cruces water department,he was born in Mesilla NM. My grandmothers maiden name was Alice Clark born in Billings Montana. Las Cruces New Mexico is where they lived and had 5 daughters and 1 son. My Grandfather used to go by Willie Johnson and people called my Grandmother Billa.

Answer 1

Hi Kid,

You gave us a bunch of information we can't use and didn't give us much we could.

Nicknames don't matter because people rarely use them on legal documents. Towns are important, but counties more, since many genealogy records are kept at the county level. Also someone in the country may have an address in one town but go to another for shopping, so when they talk about it you may get the wrong idea. Ages help because there are a lot of William Johnsons.

He was in WWII. So were 8 million other Americans. Was he a 16-year old who joined the army in 1945, which would put his birth year 1929, or a 45-year old career soldier in 1941, which would put it in 1896?

I looked on the 1930 census for you. I found two likely people:

Willis E Johnson

Parents: Hardy, Minnie H

Mesilla, Dona Ana, NM

age in 1930: 10

William Johnson

Parents: William E, Aseenia

Mesilla, Dona Ana, NM

Age in 1930: 11  

William looked reasonable, so here is his family:

William E Johnson 39  father

Aseenia Johnson 40  mother

Nora Johnson 16  sister

Josie Johnson 12  sister

William Johnson 11  

Rosine Johnson 10  sister

Domitila Johnson 8  sister

Henry Johnson 6  brother

This is th eonly Alice Clark in Yellowstone County, MT in 1930:

George A Clark 43  

Lola F Clark 40  

John F Clark 21  

Alice L Clark 15  

If that is your grandma and the William I found is your grandfather, she was 4 years older than him. That is rare, which makes me think I have a mistake somewhere. Your Alice may be Alice Marie, and she used  "Marie A" in 1930. The family may have moved from Billings in 1929 and be in Elko in 1930, on their way to Las Cruces.

Have you tried for obituaries? They would help.  For example, if William's obit says he is survived by sisters Rosine and Domitila, there is a great chance that the one I found is him.

Write to me via my profile or post again when you have just a bit more data. I am not going to waste the morning on a wild goose chase.